Howard Lyon is an artist that was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. He is the youngest of five children. Howard had very supportive parents, who even when he was very young, made sure he had the materials and education to hone his talents. While attending high school Howard met his wife, Shari Lunt. They now have three children and reside in Utah.

Howard began his career studying illustration at Brigham Young University working with artists such as Robert Barrett, Don Seegmiller, Richard Hull and Ralph Barksdale. Over the past 20 years he has worked in the video game industry as an Art Director, concept artist and freelance illustrator. For much of his career he has painted dragons and trolls or scenes from science fiction. His work can be found in products from Dungeons and Dragons books, World of Warcraft cards, Magic: the Gathering and Star Wars. He also writes for the Fantasy Art blog Muddy Colors and has recently been doing work for Brandon Sanderson's books including Mistborn, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive, and the covers for Dreamer and Snapshot.